3D Cartoon Sculptures - Luke O'Sullivan

Have you ever daydreamed about living in a cartoon universe? You know, where you're high-fiving Bugs Bunny, giving some pyrotechnic pointers to Yosemite Sam or scheming up an ingenious idea with Bart Simpson? Then, you must see the work of Luke O'Sullivan. The Boston-based artist applies screen-printed drawings on wood and steel to create sculptures that look like they belong on your Saturday morning cartoon.

We love how O'Sullivan incorporates drawing, printmaking and 3D in constructing everything from a briefcase of cash to old school ghetto blasters. We caught up with the artist to ask him what inspired him to start this kind of art.

You've said in a previous interview that you like the 'the moments where cartoons/fiction collide with something from our world.' Can you elaborate?
I always thought it was amazing when cartoons clash with 'real life.' For example, when Roger Rabbit interacted with people or when Homer was in that 3-D land in a Treehouse of Horror episode, and was transported into a 'real' New York City. It was a very curious and fascinating thing for me when I was younger; those scenarios left a big impression on me.

The Phantom Tollbooth film was another example of that. It's pretty simple, but hard to pull off. I saw a preview for that new alien movie Paul, and it’s the same principle, but based on the preview I wasn't really convinced… it just seems like displacement tactic, kind of gimmicky, you know? I think some of my sculptures can be seen as foreign objects or artifacts. Familiar, but embellished or exaggerated versions of everyday objects.   

How do you choose what you'll 'cartoon' up next?
Sometimes found objects have produced ideas, but usually drawings and current projects will lead into the next piece. I like the idea of continuity through that method. Even though each project usually fluctuates in scale and between 2D and 3D, the overarching body of work feels very linear. I find a lot of inspiration through the building process. Sometimes ideas come when I’m sketching out my current project, when I’m on a table saw, or screen-printing, I think more clearly when I’m not staring at a wall or a sheet of paper asking myself questions.

I like how your work incorporates multiple disciplines - sculpture, drawing, and painting. When did you realize that you could bring it all together in your art?
One of the lessons I keep learning is that even though I love drawing and printmaking, it doesn't mean every idea should employ those tools. Often times my work generates meaning from the process and materials, but it is really important not to force a technique on a piece. Sometimes a simple pencil drawing is all you need, but, on the other hand, getting carried away with color and all-over drawings can be important too. The idea to screen-print on wood and start building things like the boomboxes and houses was all based on a random drawing I was doing when I was bored. It was something like a 9 color screen-prints with pencil and I just stenciled out a bunch of shapes and started drawing… then I got carried away screen-printing everything. 


Who are some other artists that you admire? Who's pushing boundaries?
Giovanni Piranesi, Sidney Hurwitz, Rembrandt, Lee Bontecou, and Christo and Jeanne-Claude are some of my all-time favorites. The Faile boys always kill it, and Nicola Lopez is making some incredible stuff. But yeah, there’s a ton of great art that I see online every day, and I was lucky enough to go to school with a ton of great artists, too. It's a hustle though, it feels like everyone is pushing boundaries.

Andy Warhol Photographs

"Death means a lot of money, honey. Death can really make you look like a star." - Andy Warhol

Andy Warhol's 15 minutes of fame has lasted twenty five years. The name "Andy Warhol" is synonymous with "Pop Art." It just wouldn't be the same... without him. He left a huge collection of art behind when he sadly passed away February 22, 1987, after a routine gall bladder surgery procedure. From drawings, paintings and prints to videography, publishing and performance - this man was responsible for producing more than art. He was essentially his own brand.  Warhol said, “A picture means I know where I was every minute. That’s why I take pictures. It’s a visual diary.” From haunting black and white self-portraits to Polaroid snapshots of celebrities, many of the photos in the collection later became the inspiration for Warhol’s most well-known Pop Art works. Warhol’s importance was not just as a painter, but as a multi-disciplinarian of the art world.

Girl with the Pearl Earing

Johannes ‘Jan’ Vermeer (1632-1675), one of the most admired of all Dutch artists, was born in Delft and baptized there on October 31, 1632 -- the exact date of his birth is unknown. Public records afford historians what little facts are known about Vermeer’s life – in many ways, Vermeer is as mysterious and enigmatic as the subject of one of his best known works: “Girl with a Pearl Earring”, sometimes called ‘the Dutch Mona Lisa’.

Vermeer was a respected member of the painters' guild in Delft, but he left no journals, nor was much written about him during his life, and he produced relatively few works for a small circle of patrons. He remained in relative obscurity until the latter part of the nineteenth century, and it is the 35 or 36 paintings generally attributed to him that reveal most of what is known about the artist himself. Many of his works portray figures in interiors, often with the same furniture and decorations appearing in various arrangements; he favored bright colors and sometimes used expensive pigments, with a preference for blue and yellow. His application of paint reveals extraordinary technical ability and time consuming care, and his works are admired for the sensitivity with which he rendered effects of light and color and for the poetic quality of his images. Since the rediscovery of his work Vermeer has inspired not only other painters, but books, movies, and songs. 

 Girl with a Pearl Earring (detail)
Art Print
By Jan Vermeer
 

Rothko painting defaced at Tate Modern

Man inscribes words in black ink in corner of 1958 canvas Black on Maroon before quickly leaving room.

A photo posted on Twitter of the defaced corner of Rothko's Black on Maroon




A man has defaced a multimillion-pound Mark Rothko mural hanging in the Tate Modern gallery in front of onlookers. A police investigation is now under way into the vandalism of the US artist's work.


A visitor to the museum said he raised the alarm after a man inscribed some words in black ink in a corner of Rothko's 1958 canvas Black on Maroon, before quickly leaving the room.


Tim Wright, who posted a picture on Twitter of the canvas after it was defaced, said that he saw the man sitting quietly in front of the painting beforehand.


"Then we heard the sound of a pen, but by the time we turned around he was pretty much finished with his tag," said Wright, who was with his girlfriend on a weekend visit to London from Bristol. "The pen ink then just dripped down the painting. Once we realised what had happened, we went to find a member of staff. They were really shocked when they came and saw what he had done."


The museum said in a statement: "Tate can confirm that at 15.25 this afternoon there was an incident at Tate Modern in which a visitor defaced one of Rothko's Seagram murals by applying a small area of black paint with a brush to the painting. The police are currently investigating the incident."


The gallery was closed for a short time after the incident.


The canvas, one of a number by Rothko owned by the Tate, was in a room with several other works painted by the Russian-born artist, who emigrated to the US at the age of 10 and went on to become one of America's most important postwar artists.


His work commands huge prices. In May, his Orange, Red, Yellow was sold in New York for $86.9m (£53.8m) – the highest price ever fetched by a piece of contemporary art at auction.


The Seagram murals were painted by Rothko in 1958 for Manhattan's Four Seasons restaurant, but they were never installed. He presented a number of them to the Tate gallery shortly before he died in 1970. This year, Tate Modern opened a new Rothko Room as part of its rehung permanent galleries.


Art lovers made their feelings known on Twitter, scrutinising the image of the defacement, which appeared to include the word "Vladimir".


"I am a naturally peaceful person, but I wouldn't be that upset if 'Vladimir' accidentally met with a baseball bat," said one.


The graffiti on the painting appears to read "a potential piece of yellowism." According to an online manifesto, Yellowism is an artistic movement run by two people named Vladimir Umanets and Marcin Lodyga.

Rothko painting vandalised in Tate Modern

A vandal defaced a Mark Rothko painting worth tens of millions of pounds in the worst security breach ever to hit Tate Modern.

Mark Rothko's 'Black On Maroon' painting was defaced Photo: JANE MINGAY

By Anita Singh

Astonished witnesses saw the culprit, described as a man in his late 20s, calmly walk up to Black On Maroon (1958) and scrawl a graffiti message in black marker pen or paint.

Police were called but the man could not be located and last night no arrest had been made. The Tate’s conservationists are currently assessing the damage.

The painting was one of a series, known as the Seagram murals, gifted to the Tate by the artist in 1969. The last Rothko work to sell fetched £53.8 million at Christie’s in New York earlier this year, a new record for contemporary art.

The graffiti read: “Vladimir Umanets, A Potential Piece of Yellowism.”

It appears to be a reference to a website, www.thisisyellowism.com, run by two individuals called Vladimir Umanets and Marcin Lodyga and described as a “superficial blog” on conceptual art.

The website declares that it is a “Manifesto of Yellowism”, saying: “Yellowism is not art or anti-art. Examples of Yellowism can look like works of art but are not works of art.”

One of the witnesses to the attack, Tim Wright, posted a picture of the defaced painting on Twitter. He said: “This guy calmly walked up, took out a marker pen and tagged it. Surreal.

“We gave a description to the gallery. Very bizarre, he sat there for a while then just went for it and made a quick exit.”

Mr Wright, 23, described the culprit as a "trendy" man in his late 20s with facial hair and a tattoo on his neck.

Mr Wright, a marketing executive from Bath, said: “He was sitting down in the middle of the room and we were all looking at the paintings.

“It was quite strange, we kind of heard before we saw that sound of a pen scratching on canvas.

“We looked around and he was finishing a tag and was off like a shot.”

He and the other gallery-goers who had seen what had happened rushed to inform staff.

“They were shocked but I think the overwhelming feeling was disappointment because the damage had been done by that point,” he said.

Tate Modern is the world’s most-visited art gallery and was packed with visitors yesterday afternoon when the vandal struck in the ‘Rothko Room’.

The gallery is covered by CCTV and police are studying the footage. A Scotland Yard spokesman said: “We were alerted at 3.35pm to a report of criminal damage at Tate Modern.

“The suspect was a white male, believed to be in his late 20s. No arrest has been made at this time.”
The Tate said a visitor had defaced one of the Seagram murals “by applying a small area of black paint with a brush to the painting”.

Questions will be asked about security at the gallery, where the Rothkos are not protected by glass and are separated from visitors only be a low-level barrier that can easily be stepped over.

Typically, each room is monitored by a single gallery attendant.

It was Rothko himself who stipulated how his work should be displayed at the Tate.
The defaced painting was one of a series commissioned from Rothko in 1958 for the Four Seasons restaurant in New York’s Seagram Building, but never installed.

In 1969, the artist donated nine of the paintings to the Tate on the proviso that they be displayed “as an immersive environment”. He died the following year.

Last year, the National Gallery also fell victim to vandalism when two 17th century masterpieces were defaced. A man sprayed red paint from an aerosol can over Nicolas Poussin’s The Adoration of the Golden Calf and The Adoration of the Shepherds. On that occasion, the culprit was swiftly arrested.